Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri"

Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri" "Namalenje Island"

Namalenje Island — nah-mah-LEHN-jeh EYE-land (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri" account →

Specific to Namalenje Island

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth7–49 ft2–15 m
DietAlgae grazer (Aufwuchs), scraping the algal mat and associated microfauna from rock surfaces
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; genus-typical, on the order of a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesPresumed to carry the williamsi-complex blue-grey ground colour with dark vertical barring; locality-specific detail for the Maleri population not documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Namalenje Island population

Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri" "Namalenje Island" is the Namalenje Island population of Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Namalenje Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid from the Maleri Islands — Nakantenga, Namalenje, and Nankoma — a well-known island group in the southern part of Lake Malawi. Its trade name places it close to the formally described species Pseudotropheus williamsi (Günther, 1893), one of the classic barred mbuna of the lake, while marking this particular island population as taxonomically distinct and unnamed. No authority, year of description, FishBase number, or Red List status should ever be attached to it.

Full Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi Maleri" "Namalenje Island"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Pseudotropheus
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds., CAS) — Pseudotropheus williamsi (Günther, 1893) valid name record; searched: no separate valid name for the undescribed "Williamsi Maleri" form